Lilting Chimes
by Vycksta
Summary: She's not all about the needles, the bells, the insanely long hair and the diehard attitude. Short tales going into the life of the first known kunoichi of the Sound, Kin Tsuchi.


**Title**: Lilting Chimes  
**Fandom**: Naruto  
**Rating**: One slightly gory moment and a few cuss words yet that's really it...

**Authors Notes**: New year, new fandom! Sorta...

I've been a fan of Naruto since 2006 yet all I never read and watched was chapters and scenes featuring Itachi and Tayuya, as I loved them both so. It wasn't until properly reading the manga from volume one about four months ago that I really got into the world of Naruto and now i'm confident enough to finally write something in this fandom! Whoot?

So yeah... this may be the first Naruto based piece I have done but that doesn't mean I want you to go easy. Fling the concrit at me if you feel I need it, i'll gladly take it on board as i'm always willing to imprive my writing. Reviews in general of course are equally loved.

Lilting Chimes is bascially a series of ten shorts... each around the 500 word mark... centric to the first kunoichi of the Sound, Kin, for the current challenge set in the Livejournal community tayuyakin. Kin is actually one of my top five Naruto characters and she generally doesn't get much love so here I am, giving her some love like OMG. I have my fingers crossed that I have her in-character for it really does upset me if I write any of my favourite out of line.

Oh yeah, just letting you know that none of the shorts follow a certain order, except the second and third ones as they flow one after the other. Now with all the yakking aside... enjoy?

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**#1 - Argument  
**"I'm telling you, he went to the west!"

"Don't be such a prat Dosu, the guy ran down south!"

"FOR HELL'S SAKE ARE YOU TWO BOTH FROM THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE DUMB? He went to the NORTH!"

"No he did not Kin!"

"Yes he bloody well did!"

It was a typical spring afternoon in Otogakure and together with her teammates Zaku Abumi and Dosu Kinuta, Kin Tsuchi was trying to locate a ninja from the Waterfall Country who thought he would be confident enough to track down and get information on the genin that resided in the new village. Unluckily for this shinobi from Takigakure he was instantly spotted by the training Kin... yet at the same time he must have been counting his blessings as he soon lost her and her comrades, who were now arguing amongst themselves in an out-of-character fashion. Normally the Sound Trio got on very well indeed.

"I still say he ran south..." Zaku mused matter-of-factly, Dosu getting instantly enraged by his comment and grabbing him by the collar, shaking him like a rattle.

"He. Went. WEST. YOU STUPID PIECE OF FU-"

"Actually, Zaku's right... he did run south." interrupted Kin.

Dosu glared at Kin, still keeping a tight grip on the now beaming-with-pride Zaku. "And what makes you think that HE is RIGHT?"

"Because he is coming right this way!"

Before Dosu could turn around to see whether or not Kin was lying the Sound kunoichi had leapt into action, jumping elegantly into the air and throwing four of her senbon at the incoming Taki shinobi, hitting the vital points on his arms and stopping him in his tracks. As quick as a flash of lightning Kin then flung a chakra-infused bell at her opponent, her genjutsu activating when it connected with the in-pain ninja from Hidden Waterfall. It didn't take long for Kin's opponent to reel backwards in pain from the sound waves her genjutsu was creating and soon enough his vision and his hearing was completely disoriented.

Kin smiled deviously; she loved it when guys were falling into defeat under her. Normally she would have toyed with her opponents some more, flinging more senbon to constantly scratch at their skin and create even more distress... yet this guy was in their country and caused her and her friends to argue about him. So instead of playing the sadistic torturer she decided that being efficient would be better, landing a furious combination of punches on the Waterfall-nin to knock him unconscious.

"Ta-da!" she proclaimed at the fallen ninja, turning back to face a still-in-shock Zaku and Dosu. "Now, shall we get rid of this moron?"

"You imbecile!" Dosu proclaimed, pushing Zaku onto the ground. "If you hadn't have argued with me then we could have taken the prat on together!"

Zaku instantly swiped a kick under Dosu's feet, also sending him crashing onto the earth below. "Shut up, it was YOU who started rowing in the first place!"

Letting out a sigh, Kin watched the drama unfold with hands on her hips. Sometimes, she wondered if she had a higher brain power than her fellow Sound ninja.

**#2 - Conditioner  
**"You know Kin, you really are such a hypocrite."

"I agree. You go around insulting every pretty girl ninja who takes their time tarting themselves up yet there you are, applying that stuff into your hair like we're going to be assassinated tomorrow..."

"Shut up, the pair of you." Kin eventually hissed to her two teammates, Zaku and Dosu, who were both enjoying mocking the Sound kunoichi's daily habit of applying spray-on conditioner to her hair. However this comment brought nothing but insane laughter from the two guys.

"Oh come off it, you know we are right." Zaku plainly stated, teasingly running his fingers through his own midnight locks.

Instead of smacking him around the mouth for trying to wind her up again, Kin only smiled light-heartedly as she tied a long maroon ribbon around the end of her hairline. She knew both of them were right yet at the same time, she liked to think that she was stronger than any other girl who called herself a shinobi.

A few seconds of silence passed before Kin turned to both Zaku and Dosu, who were both still playing the pranksters. "Okay, done. Now let's kick some arse in training, yeah?"

The training session went by as quickly as a bustling gale and before long the dark shades of night eclipsed the sky. Exhausted from caning a vast array of trees and from knocking lumps out of each other, Kin said her goodnights to both Zaku and Dosu and retreated to bed, for the next morning they'd all be meeting up with their leader, the legendary sannin Orochimaru. However once she was out of sight Kin's two smirking cronies headed straight towards the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of her precious conditioner...

The next morning arrived with a vibrant flourish that still remained three hours later, the warming rays catching the outer flesh of Zaku and Dosu, who were waiting in a desolate clearing for two particular people. One of them was Orochimaru and the other?

"She was the first to bed... why is she the last to get up?" Zaku questioned, shrugging his shoulders but also sporting a michieveious smile on his face.

Dosu returned the same wicked grin, adjusting his headband while leaning back further against the tree he was resting on. "Maybe because she has a problem to deal with..." His voice then trailed off as a piercing scream echoed throughout the clearings entirety. The two Oto ninja then turned to face the direction that the holler was coming from... and eventually Kin emerged into open space, her hair all spiked up and scattered in wayward directions.

"Which one of you BASTARDS put STARCH in my conditioner?" she screeched, earning a gleeful chorus of cackles from both Zaku and Dosu. The laughter soon didn't fill the clearing for long however, screams taking their place as Kin decided to beat them both up viciously for their prank.

No wonder Orochimaru looked bemused when he saw such a strange scene upon his arrival.

**#3 - Day of rest  
**"Blimey, a rare day off! Mmm, what to do, what to do?"

"Well you and Dosu can do whatever you both please..." came Kin's reply to Zaku's slightly sarcastic question, shortly after the trio from Otogakure were told to have a day of relaxation before traveling to the Hidden Leaf village, Konoha. "I am going to spend it away. From. YOU." And with a smirk and a snort Kin vanished from sight, leaving both Zaku and Dosu standing in her wake.

If she was going to be honest with herself Kin actually didn't have a set idea as to how to spend her free day. A small part of her was itching to train alone and practise her genjutsu ready for the Chuunin Exam that was happening in nine days time... yet at the same time another part of her mind was telling her to take it easy, for Orochimaru himself said that she was ready. So with a firm nod she finally made a decision and decided to take a relaxing, peaceful walk through the forests of the Hidden Sound.

The birds were chirping a tuneful melody, the sky was accented a vibrant cyan and the sun was casting its powerful, warming ways onto the ground below, the ground that Kin was strolling contently along. A few blissful minutes passed and the Oto kunoichi eventually found herself near to a river, so she decided to stop there for a breather.

As she was splashing soothing water over her face she noticed a shadow was being reflected near to her. Kin looked at the reflection quizzically as the dark figure of sorts looked like it was looming above her, so she quickly grabbed some string from her pocket ready to attack. Yet as soon as she turned around to confront this figure it leapt from its hiding place and in one swift attack, knocked Kin backwards into the chilling river water.

"AAAAH DAMMIT THIS IS COLD!" she hollered dramatically, arms flailing around to help keep her above the surface. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU... Zaku?"

Laughter echoed throughout the forest as Zaku stood on the river bank, arms across his stomach to stop him from doubling over. Seconds later Dosu emerged from behind a nearby tree also in a fit of giggles... and action that angered Kin enough to splash water all over her cackling teammates.

"Why?" she questioned, a tone of annoyance in her voice as she set about getting out of the river.

Dosu squeezed some water out of his shirt then smirked once again. "Call it our revenge for getting us good after our conditioner prank."

Zaku nodded in agreement, took one look at the soaked and muddied Kin and started to laugh again. Dosu then joined in for the second time... yet after five seconds they were howling in pain as Kin decided to give them a matching set of black eyes for their trouble before walking off, whistling a merry tune as she set about continuing her day of relaxation.

**#4 - Grit  
**As she stepped into the room with a confident swagger and glanced around at the many faces staring intently back at her, the urge to announce that she was going to succeed was very tempting indeed.

This may have been the first time in her life that she has entered the Chuunin Exams yet the look on Kin Tsuchi's face showed real determination as she continued to clock watching faces while her teammates, Zaku Abumi and Dosu Kinuta, entered the exam room. She knew exactly what everyone's eyes were fixed on and eventually, so did both Dosu and Zaku.

The insignia on their headbands.

The marking was of a simple design, a single musical note placed in the center of the metal attachment of the headbands... yet to everyone except Kin, Dosu and Zaku it was something strange, something unheard of, something new.

"We're from Otogakure, the village hidden in sound." Kin said to break the silence, now starting to get agitated with the constant staring. "It's a new village, yes... but the ninja that come from it are like nothing you have encountered before."

"Whatever." a midnight haired kunoichi from the village hidden in the rain, Amegakure, retorted, earning glares from all three Sound-nin. "You must have all been pretty pathetic ninja from other villages, kicked out and then taken on by some poor, misguided leader..."

Kin glared angrily at the cocky genin before turning to Zaku and Dosu, who looked at each other and then nodded at the sole Oto kunoichi. The eyes of anger then became eyes of grit and confidence.

"Looks like I need to show you some manners, brat."

As soon as the last word was said Kin leapt into the air with grace, throwing four bits of string with a small golden bell attached to the ends around the Ame genin. Before the opponent could make head or tail of what was happening Kin effortlessly flung another bell directly at her rival's head. This bell was infused with chakra and was part of Kin's genjutsu. Before long the technique was activated and the Rain-nin was covering her ears and whining from the pain caused, staggering around as the genjutsu of Kin successfully took effect.

Satisfied that her rival got the message, Kin placed her bells back in her pocket, amid gasps from the other watching genin and a mutual nod shared between Zaku and Dosu. The three ninja from the Sound Village then swaggered confidently past their shocked potential enemies and sat down on a desk to wait for the examiners to arrive.

"Very smooth there, Kin." an impressed Zaku commented, earning himself a smile from Kin.

"She needed to learn a lesson. Do not mess with the ninja from Otogakure because we are going to be the victors in this joint and our determination alone will outwit anybody." And to Kin's reply both Dosu and Zaku smirked in agreement.

**#5 - Harmony  
**She was starting to wonder if anybody thought she was a weirdo.

It was the third stage of the Chuunin Exams in Konoha, where the genin who have successfully passed the written exam and the five day test of wit and skill in the Forest of Death were now pitted against one another in combat... yet there she was, Kin Tsuchi of Otogakure, more interested in how the ceiling stayed up despite there being a lack of support beams. The reason for her choosing to observe the view above was not down to a fear of blood or death... it was because she felt like she was failing.

In the written exam she did manage to get through easily, using a combination of strings to wrap around a fellow genin's pen to tie on her own and therefore get the answers and she was feeling very confident... up until the Forest of Death.

Her long-term mission, along with her teammates Zaku and Dosu, is to capture and eventually assassinate a young rookie ninja from Konohagakure by the name of Sasuke Uchiha, yet she found herself getting possessed by another from the Hidden Leaf village and had to be knocked out by both Zaku and Dosu. Since then she has felt really downheartened and was wondering what her punishment was going to be from her leader Orochimaru for being such a pathetic loser...

"Hey."

Kin blinked a few times and turned to see who it was who was speaking to her. When she saw that it was Dosu she merely rolled her eyes and turned her attention back onto the ceiling. Dosu however was undeterred, sitting next to the Sound kunoichi and leaning back against the seat casually.

"Not like you, Kin, to be so pessimistic." Dosu said flatly after a few seconds silence.

Kin tutted and looked back at her comrade. "I can have an off-day, you know." she replied with equal bluntness, a comment that made Dosu smile inwardly.

"What the fuck are you smiling at, Dosu? It's not funny."

"I didn't say it was..." Dosu apathetically retorted, leaning forward and resting his hand platonically on Kin's leg. "I'm just bemused as to why you are acting like this. We all have to deal with defeat one day and besides, you have the confidence in you to get through this. Remember that you, me and Zaku are a team and we are stronger than any of the others here... we just need to show them that."

With that said Dosu got up from his seat, patted Kin on the back and set off... and Kin watched him leave intently. Dosu was never one to play the agony aunt yet his words hit home. He was right... the three of them were a team and they have worked so well together for a long time. No other team had the closeness they had and together, they will succeed in their missions both short-term and in the future.

"You're going down, Shikamaru Nara..." Kin muttered wickedly to herself, finally paying attention to the fight happening below her.

**#6 - In the end  
**She had heard of the technique before but never in her fourteen years of existence did she expect to witness it happening.

Impure World Resurrection. A summoning jutsu that is widely regarded as being dangerous, is generally strictly illegal and involves sacrificing the life of a person in order to bring another back from the dead, with all memories intact. The dead soul is transferred into the body of the living and the sacrifice is then surrounded by dirt and transforms, forming the body of the revived person.

She would have been impressed, but Kin was far from it. Instead she was in a severe state of panic as she was going to be a sacrifice for this jutsu.

Her fists were shaking uncontrollably as she stared deep into the eyes of the man she thought would stand by her no matter what, Orochimaru the legendary sannin. She knew that she messed up during the Chuunin Exam, in which she was taken over by a mind transfer jutsu in the Forest of Death and then beaten by Shikamaru Nara in the preliminaries, yet she thought she would be given a second chance...

"After all, I stuck by you through thick and thin. I trained vigorously, I perfected my genjutsu even more and even YOU said that you were proud of my progress. So why have you betrayed me?" Kin wailed pleadingly to Orochimaru, who simply kicked Kin away into open space.

"I simply have no need for you any more..." the sannin replied maliciously as he quickly started to perform the hand signs needed to begin the forbidden technique.

Kin screamed out in a mixture of sadness and anger as dirt started to rise from the ground and surround the betrayed Sound kunoichi. Her vision was starting to wane and her breath was starting to get raspier as the power of Impure World Resurrection started to claim her own life. She tried desperately to fight against what was happening yet all her efforts were proving to be futile.

Knowing that she was in the last few minutes of her short existence, Kin freely let a tear cascade down her cheek as she started to see a flashback of her parents. In this vision they were hoisting a ten-year-old Kin high into the air, praising her for her battle prowess and proclaiming their pride upon seeing their daughter grow up so fast. This only made Kin sob even more, her breathing becoming more ragged as death was looming above her...

"I hope I made you both proud..." she struggled to whisper, vision now becoming nothing but darkness and despair as one final tear made its journey down her porcelain cheek. "And hopefully, one day i'll be revived and i'll murder that bastard for killing me..." And with that said, a final breath escaped her lungs as death claimed another victim in Kin.

Kin knew full well that as a shinobi death could happen at any given moment... yet in the end, she never wanted her life to finish as it did.

**#7 - More than meets the eye  
**Breaths were coming out in ragged rasps, the cow-print scarf that usually adorns around the neck was now nothing but a vast array of fabricated strips and the skin was littered in many little cuts and bruises, enough to make the pigment appear more of a faded crimson than of a vibrant peach like tone.

This was not how the plan was supposed to be falling.

The mission in itself was simple. Confront the miniature gaggle of renegade genin from Takigakure, take out their leader quickly and effectively and that would be enough to make the rest of the group flee back to their country in fear, enough to dismiss any plans that the Waterfall Country had of overpowering Otogakure for their own needs. This mission was deemed so simple that Orochimaru was confident that just a single one of his ninja would be enough to complete the task.

Yet there was Kin, hands on her thighs to try and catch her breath back from the exhausting fight she was having to endure with this leader. Not only was she battered ten ways to Sunday, her vision was starting to wane from exhaustion and she was cursing the fact that her hearing wasn't lessening either, to drown out the mocking taunts from the Waterfall-nins.

"You know guys, taking over this country is going to be a piece of cake if THIS..." Kin's opponent sarcastically remarked, idly waving a hand in the Sound-nin's general direction. "Is the best an Oto genin can do."

"You said it!"

"Plus she's only a GIRL. Girls are not meant to be ninjas, all they can do right is cook and clean!" came a harsh taunt from a different member of the group, a comment that made everyone, including the leader, burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

In that instant something inside Kin snapped. If there was one thing she hated, it was sexist pigs dismissing her simply because she was female... and boy, the times that she got her revenge by robbing those who uttered those cruel comments with their lives...

"Fuck you, asshole!" screamed the Sound kunoichi, gathering up her inner strength to launch an array of strings to wrap around her rival, each string having a bell attached to the end that omitted chakra-infused sound waves to confuse the Taki genin.

Before the leader could take into account what was happening Kin pulled on the strings with all her might to send her tied-up and confused rival flying towards her. In one quick movement she then flung four senbon into her adversary's neck, hitting the vital pressure points that caused a death-like trance. A single, powerful kick was then all that was needed to snap the rival's neck, making the associates of the now deceased ninja from the Waterfall Country gasp in shock at Kin's sudden onslaught.

"Now then..." Kin delightfully purred, holding up the dead leader by the strings that ensnared the body like a puppet. "Who else wants me to cook up a storm?"

**#8 - Needle  
**"I don't know who you are or where your Hidden Village is. What I do know though is that you're going to Hell." a slightly shaken feminine voice announced to break up the huffing and the puffing that was previously being heard.

Kin merely scoffs at her opponent's declaration, producing a quartet of senbon that she holds confidently between her fingers. "Says the little tart who probably writes a journal on how many boys she's banged in a night." she retorts, provoking a reaction from the red haired kunoichi that she's got into a fight with.

"How DARE you say something like that..." she screeches, gathering up some of her inner strength to launch herself at Kin... but all the Sound genin does is scoff again, throwing one of her senbon directly at her adversary's eye, piercing it with a sickening squelch.

Trying not to laugh at the state her rival has worked herself up into and the screams of pain that echoed in the grassland that they were battling on, Kin surveyed the scene for a few moments before jumping into the air to land a roundhouse kick across the other kunoichi's face, sending her flying into a tree awkwardly. Not letting her guard down for a bit, Kin planted another powerful kick into the other girl's stomach before punching her across the side of her face and thumping her again square on the jaw, causing blood to flail out of the mouth.

"Mmm... can't see many boys wanting you now, sugar." Kin taunted, using a second senbon to scratch across the insignia infused into the headband of her opponent.

"I will... not lose... to someone like you. For the honour of my clan..." the battered girl breathed awkwardly, finally pulling the senbon out of her eye... getting another punch to the face as her reward.

Kin looked at the bruised and bloodied mess in front of her and pushed her enemy's face down into the dirt below, infusing her final pair of senbon with her own chakra. In one swift movement she drove the now blue-tinged needles into each of the other shinobi's ears, piercing the ear drums and activating the Oto genin's genjutsu, making the severely sore rival badly disorientated.

"Your clan must really suck." Kin then stated matter-of-factly before pulling the other kunoichi up by her hair and ramming her face continually into the ground, making more blood fly in random directions and eventually killing her rival.

Satisfied with her "work", Kin calmly collected up her four senbon and tucked them away safely; heading back to her base while letting the crows feed on the newly created corpse. She then turned around to watch the raven coloured birds feed for a short amount of time before smiling deviously.

"The small things are always the deadliest." she whispered to herself, contently packing the case which contained her needles, her pride and joy when it came to battling.

**#9 - Pride  
**The sky was coloured a glorious indigo and was accented with many twinkling stars and the trees, pigmented ebony because of the lack of sunlight, spread their branches across this deep purple to complete the scene. Every so often the wind would make an appearance, an eerie howl skimming in all directions to add effect. The last time the wind entered the scene, a leaf snapped itself off one of the branches and it cascaded down onto the dry ground, where a human hand picked it up and twirled it around nonchalantly.

Kin had been observing the course of nature for the past half an hour, taking time away from her teammates and from the general hustle and bustle that came with being a ninja of Otogakure, the Hidden Sound village. She was casting her mind back to her past and was reliving each memory vividly.

She remembered her old village well. It appeared to be quiet and peaceful but the ninja who resided there were tricky and heartless, always using one another to fulfill their desires. Her parents would constantly warn her to trust nobody but herself and were also the ones behind her training in the early years, helping her perfect using genjutsu and throwing her needles with deadly accuracy.

A shiver then cast itself over Kin's body as she then remembered the death of her parents by the hands of some of the other residents in the village, for no other reason than to have two more added to their kill count. This angered the now orphaned pre-teen Kin so much she took on the trio who murdered her Mother and Father and took their lives as quickly as possible, shocking them beforehand because of the intense, confusing way she battled. This whole scene was watched intently by a man who was scouring the lands for tough ninja willing to defunct to a village he was founding.

"Don't see why not. Not like I have anything here now..." was what Kin said when asked by the watcher, the sannin of the snakes Orochimaru, to join him in Otogakure.

That was a little over eighteen months ago and since then Kin has been perfecting her techniques even more with the help of both Zaku and Dosu. Training has been intense, the missions set by Orochimaru himself even more so and her wits were about to be tested to their maximum as she would soon be partaking in a Chuunin Exam that was being hosted in the Hidden Leaf village, Konoha.

Yet one thing was for certain.

Not a day went by in which Kin would think of her parents, the two people responsible for making her who she was today... and with one flick of her finger the leaf she was twirling danced a waltz onto the ground below and she lifted herself off the ground in one quick movement.

She was going to succeed in life and she hoped that her parents would be watching her every move from Heaven with pride.

**#10 - Unwanted  
**It took a lot to knock Kin Tsuchi, kunoichi of the Sound, down.

Whenever her teammates Zaku and Dosu tried to wind her up she would simply step up a gear and get revenge in a more brutal way. If her training was dismissed and considered lackluster she would take the criticism on the chin and push her body to its limit the next day. No matter what happened Kin would refuse to let the emotion of sadness effect her and it seemed that nothing would ever make her feel depressed... until after the second stage of the Chuunin Exam in Konoha.

Her confidence was high after passing the written portion of the exam with ease and while charging onto the unwelcoming mass of trees and vines the taste of victory was already in her mouth. It soon wasn't long before, together with Dosu and Zaku, they had found the ninja they were seeking for as part of their long-term mission, Sasuke Uchiha. Kin herself had got into a scrap with the pink haired kunoichi Sakura Haruno and had a tight grip of her hair, slagging off how Sakura seemed to prefer her looks over her training.

The next thing she knew she was back in the exam room. Zaku was angrily telling her how she stupidly let herself be possessed by a mind transfer jutsu from another Konoha genin and to save themselves both he and Dosu had to knock her out. He then proceeded to lecture her about how she was the least productive one of the trio so far and that it was only down to himself and Dosu that they are through to the preliminaries. As a final verbal blow Kin was then labeled a "fucking imbecile" and Zaku then stormed off to find Dosu, leaving Kin in shock.

Rubbing her forehead as an attempt to get rid of her grogginess, Kin started to listen to conversations around her, wondering if anyone else was feeling the same way...

"She said that ninja from Otogakure were elite."

"I'm surprised she woke up."

"Does she really think she's all that?"

"SHUT UP, I CAN HEAR YOU ALL!" Kin eventually hollered, causing everyone near to her to immediately stop talking. Staring intently at them all, the urge to just fling a mass of senbon at them was tempting... but instead she took to running out of the room, to be by herself.

With a sigh, Kin leaned against the wall of the corridor she was in and slumped to the floor, resting her chin on her hands and keeping her knees close to her chest. Normally she would have coped with all the backchat and the telling off from Zaku yet together with the added pressure to succeed in both the Chuunin Exam and in assassinating Sasuke and the fact that all her intense training seemed to be amounting to absolutely nothing, the urge to cry was rising, something that she never normally would do.

Never did Kin feel so unwanted and so alone before.


End file.
